Types of Collectible Pokémon Cards

A fun and inexpensive way to start your collection is to choose a character and see how many cards you can collect that feature that character.

If you desire to collect cards that have the best chance to increase in value over time there are five basic types that are normally considered the most valuable:

Holofoil

Secret

1st Edition

Error

Promo

The Holofoil 1st Edition Machamp is NOT considered to be rare. This card is shown in the original packaging as it was presented in the 2 Player Starter Set. | Source

Holofoil

Holofoils are found in the mass produced sets and booster packs. The booster packs are sold with 11 each. Each card in the pack varies in its rarity and there should be one that is rarer than all the others. Approximately 1/3 of these rares are Holofoil.

Because these come from mass produced sets they are not as rare as some others and are usually considered the least valuable of the collectibles.

Secret

Secret are numbered higher than the number of cards that are available in the set. For example a secret is numbered 103/102. These are very limited in number and are usually Holofoil.

Secrets first appeared in the Team Rocket set with the addition of the Dark Rachu card number 83/82.

Secrets are only found in booster packs. Each booster box contains 36 booster packs. There is an average of one or two secrets per box depending on the set or series.

First Edition

These are the very first cards sold for each set. These have a special symbol on them showing it is a first edition.

Because there is only a limited number of these made, they are usually much more valuable than their unlimited counterpart.

Example of the 1st Edition symbol. | Source

Error

Sometimes cards that have mistakes on them are produced and sold to the public before the factory realizes and corrects the mistake. These are known as errors.

Errors often have spelling errors, errors in the graphics, or incorrect or missing portions.

Due to the limited number that are released to the public, these are often highly sought after and are highly collectible.

The one on the bottom is the famous Japanese Ancient Mew Error card. The error was the misspelling of Nintendo spelled as Nintedo. | Source

The very rare Trade Please (Trading Please) Promo | Source

Promo

Promos are created for a specific event. These vary in their rarity depending on the event or purpose of the card.

Promos were never sold but were given away at special events or as part of a packaged product. Some of those events include movies, product releases at toy stores, tournaments, inserts in magazines, airline giveaways, inserts in CDs, and other products.

In rare cases there are different versions of the same promo released.

For example the Japanese Ancient Mew Card had three different versions. The first one, known as the Japanese Ancient Mew I Error, contained a spelling error. The second one released was the Japanese Ancient Mew I Promo. This one was the corrected version. The third version is known as the Japanese Ancient Mew II Promo. This one is much more rare than the other two.

Japanese Mew 1 Promo (bottom) and the much more rare Japanese Mew II Promo (top). | Source

Gold Foil Stamp Promo

Sometimes you will find cards with gold foil stamps on them. These are promos that were included in magazines or special events.

Some of the more valuable gold foil promos you may wish to collect are:

1999 "E3" Pikachu (red cheek)

1999 "E3" Pikachu (yellow cheek)

1999 "W" Pikachu (1st Edition)

1999 "Gold Bordered" Meowth

1999 "PRERELEASE" Clefable

Extremely rare Japanese Mew II Promo card. PSA 9 and 10 cards of this variety are extremely difficult to obtain.

Types of Promos

Promos are relatively easy to get when they are first released and usually increase in value over time because they have such a limited production time and supply.

The following is a list of a few of the Promo types:

Black Star Promo

White Star Promo

Double White Star Promo

Gray Star Promo

Coro Coro Comic Promo

Pokémon Public Fan Club Promo

Play Mat giveaway Promo

Pokémon Card Game Official Tournament Promo

JR Train Rally Promo

Toyota Campaign Promo

Nintendo 64 Campaign Promo

Pokémon Movie Promo

Trade Please Campaign Promo

Nippon Airlines Promo

Pokémon Song Best Collection CD Promo

Tropical Mega Battle Promo

Venusaur CD Promo PSA Mint 10 | Source

Special Promo Sets

Sometimes promos are released in sets. Such as the 9 card NEO Promo Set, the Pokémon Best of CD Collection Promo Set, and the Japanese Southern Islands 3 Card Promo Pack.

There were four cards that were specially stamped for release of Pokémon The First Movie.

Each of the special release promos had a stamp that read “Kids WB presents Pokémon the First Movie".

These were #2 Electabuzz, #3 Mewtwo, #4 Pikachu, and #5 Dragonite.

A few of these were accidentally printed with the gold foil stamp upside down and in the opposite corner. It is estimated that only 30 of these were ever released to the public.

Imakuni? CoroCoro Promo (1997)

This was the first promo to have an image of a real-life person.

Trade Please (Trading Please) Promo (1998)

One of only two (Ancient Mew was the other) ever produced with a holographic back.

Dark Persian #17 Error (2000)

A few of these black star promos were printed without the HP.

Beware of Pokémon Fakes!

High valued cards often get counterfeits made. Watch out for ones that don't have the plastic center, faded or smudged graphics, or show other signs of being a counterfeit.

If you are unsure, it may help to compare the card to another. Don't forget to check the back, often there are slight differences in color or position of the graphics. There are also some that are produced by others as pranks or April Fools jokes.

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Jason

2 years agofrom Melbourne, Australia

Thanks for this article (Even though I just found it 2 years after its posted!) its was very helpfull. I know there where also a Shadowless run printed of the base set when these cards first came out. I wonder has anyone found any actual figures on how many cards where printed? I can verify that these (shadowless) cards came out in Australia at the same time as the first edition Base set was released. I was working in a collectable store and we got our first look at them before the actual release date.

CajunCutie

2 years ago

I have the Machamp Edition 1 Holofoil Card

How to post pic of it

Sam

2 years agofrom Australia

Still have all my Pokemon cards (well over 200) but unfortunately I never had anything close to rare, had good fun playing Pokemon Cards with friends though!

AUTHOR

Marty Andersen

5 years agofrom Salina, Utah

This was a fun Hub to write. I'm sure there will be additions from time to time. It was fun getting the cards out of storage and seeing what I have. I know there is another box with more cards somewhere. Hopefully I'll find them and add more images.

Mary Craig

5 years agofrom New York

I bet there will be Pokémon collectors from all over the world reading this one flash. You've included excellent pictures of the cards and your chart of Pokémon cards that have sold for over $500 could get collector's mouths watering!

Voted up, useful, and interesting.

Darrin Perez

5 years agofrom Puerto Rico

Awesome hub! I used to collect Pokémon cards and still have one or two promo cards lying around. Thank you very much for the info!

whonunuwho

5 years agofrom United States

My son enjoys this card collection every much. Since he was about ten years of age, he has collected these cards and traded with friends. Thanks for this nice hub. whonu

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